The management of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) yesterday in the Senate disagreed with the Auditor-General of the Federation on the amount stolen by its contractors, saying it was only N11billion and not N70billion as alleged.
The senators openly expressed shock when they were told that a combined 1,733 contractors had fleeced the nation of more than N70 billion through collection of mobilization fees for contracts awarded by the NDDC between 2008 and 2012, but left undone.
However, the true state of the stealing will still have to be ascertained, given the a disagreement between the management of NDDC and the Auditor General over the actual sum involved.
While the Auditor General said the sum in question was N70,495, 993, 761, the NDDC management said it was a paltry N11 billion.
Speaking at the sitting of the Senate Public Accounts Committee, Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, insisted that corrupt-minded contractors handling various projects of NDDC between 2008 and 2012, disappeared with N70billion mobilization fees without going to site, let alone executing the projects.
Mr Emmanuel Akpan, an Assistant Director, Public Accounts Committee Division in the office, spoke on behalf of the Auditor General.
According to him, while the NDDC’s office in response to a query issued it by the Office of the Auditor-General over the ugly development, said projects worth N11 billion were affected by the scam, the Auditor- General’s office, based on findings made so far, strongly believes that the total sum of the scam is N70,495, 993, 761.
“The real value of contracts upon which monies have been collected by NDDC contractors during the period under review, as at the time of auditing, was N70.4billion and not N11billion the NDDC office is claiming now.
“There is need for NDDC officials to practically prove that contractors involved in close to N60billion gap they are trying to create, have actually gone to site and executed their projects not on paper but physically on ground”, he said.
He further disclosed that not less than 1, 733 contractors were involved in the scam.
But while officials from the office of the Accountant-General of the Federation concurred with the submission made by the Auditor-General over NDDC ‘s contract awards and execution from 2008 to 2012, NDDC officials led by their acting Managing Director, Ibim Semenitari, disagreed vehemently by saying that latest records available to them, indicate that N11billion worth of projects and not N70billion, were affected by the contract scam.
The Commission’s Director of Finance, Jimoh Egbejule said the commission had on its own audited the various projects awarded during the period under review, and discovered that the said scam affected N11billion worth projects and not N70.4billion as reported by the Office of the Auditor- General.
With the parties refusing to agree on the actual amount involved in the scam, the A committee, Chairman, Senator Andy Uba announced the adjournment of the sitting for a month to enable a thorough check of facts and figures as presented by both parties.
The committee’s chairman said : “There is need to stop this public hearing abruptly so as to allow the three parties time to sit down and harmonize their findings and reports on the subject matter.
“Definitely this committee is not satisfied with what has happened but we have to give them time to meet and harmonize whatever they can harmonize before coming back to us to present their updated reports upon which we can now do the proper probings without one agency saying it doesn’t have the reports the other is presenting and so on and so forth.
“Unfortunately, the new MD did not know anything, she didn’t understand what was going on.They didn’t carry her along but I am glad that she’s willing to work, she’s ready to go through it with a fine toothcomb line by line with the auditor-general and accountant-general’s queries to make sure that there is prompt response to the queries.
“But I am glad that today, in one months time, am sure we would know the truth about the whole differences”.
The new NDDC boss, Ibim Seminitari on her part, promised to go over the records properly within the one month duration given, with a view to later presenting before it the truth of the alleged contract scam.
“We would respond in all honesty with all of the documentations before us. But like I said there might have been some errors here and there because they didn’t see all of the documentation. It’s too early to decide what it might be, but I’m sure by the time they respond fully we would be able to show Nigerians facts as they are.
“Again like I told you we would not shield any contractor who hasn’t done his job, we would not shield anyone who has to be indicted; this is a new administration and we are committed to transparency”, she said.
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